Location: Captain's Cabin
ON
Katae walked into her cabin and looked around. There was nothing of a personal laying around in the room. She was still trying to figure out exactly what was going on in the wardroom. Why was Freyja staggering around, and what did the unpleased expression on Kata'nova's face mean.
Further she was just a tad annoyed, Trowa returns to the Aeon and he does not even greet her when he walks into the wardroom. I wonder if he is ill. He did seem a bit peaked.
Trowa stopped by his cabin and quickly chewed up some breath mints. He was pretty ticked, mostly with himself. "The one time the Taisa wants to speak with me privately about training a new guy and I smell like vagabond. The one time I drink too much off duty..." He trailed off into a string of curses as he straightened his uniform and eye patch then headed for the Taisa's quarters.
When the Nepleslian reached the Taisa's door he took a calming breath and prepared himself for whatever would occur. Hopefully, she won't bust me down to a Yonto-Hei.
The door opened without any action on Trowa's behalf. Katae's voice called out, "Come in Yamamoto-Heisho."
Katae was standing in front front of her small work desk, leaning against it. She watched Trowa entrance to the room with close scrutiny. Her green eyes scanning his movements.
Trowa walked in and bowed. "Isa-Taisa, how are you this morning?" His tone was clear, without any slur and his movements fluid and smooth.
Katae paused just a moment before returning his bow with a much lesser one. "I have had worse days, and I have had better days." She walked around the desk and took a seat.
Haven't we all. Trowa thought to himself.
"Take a seat Heisho, I have a few questions I would like answered before we discuss the training." she said, then picked up her coffee and took a sip.
"Thank you Ma'am." Trowa said as he took a seat. "Fire away."
"Well, I have two questions to start with. The first is I expected a bit more courtesy when you returned to the ship. You came into the Wardroom, and did not even stop to say any form of greeting. I expect a bit more from my Senior soldiers. After all you are expected to be examples for the new recruits. Care to explain?" Katae said with a slightly annoyed expression on her face.
Trowa winced and closed his real eye. He let out his breath slowly then answered honestly. "Yes Ma'am. I... allowed myself to... relax too much while I was off duty. As a result, I was not focused on the tasks at hand. It was bad form on my part and a poor example for a NCO. I sincerely apologize and assure you that it will not happen again." Trowa held himself upright and looked Katae straight in the eye as he spoke.
Katae's expression remained unchanged, except for a brief raise of her left eyebrow. "Well, that takes care of my second question. I was going to ask if you were unwell and needed to report to medical." She leaned forward, "Was there a woman involved in this relaxing?"
His Nepleslian pride almost surfaced but Trowa kept himself in check. It was a fair question, if a little personal. "I received a gift from an old friend I met on my first leave. It was some new cybernetic upgrades and several fine bottles of whiskey." He paused, "Aye, you could say a woman was involved."
"I see good, so your recreation did not result in another soldier reporting for duty slightly impaired." Katae answered leaning back in her chair. Her expression softened. "Well, given that your transfer was rather sudden. Everyone deserves a little down time, after all these years of war. I am going to let this slide, consider this your free pass Trowa-San. You are a good soldier, and everyone can make mistakes. I am going to presume that you will be fully capable of handing the Aeon when we leave." She said and took a sip of her coffee.
Trowa let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't going to get busted down to Yonto-Hei or have be thrown in the brig. This was why he liked and respected Katae so much. She was willing to forgive mistakes and to give a second chance. "Thank you for understanding Ma'am. It will not occure again." Trowa smiled slightly. "A cup of Nami-Hei's coffee and I'll be ready."
"Now as to the matter of training, Tanaka-Hei has recently come forward asking for more responsibility on the Aeon. So he has been getting some training as a starship operator. I would like you to work with him. schedule some training sessions. He has had basic flight practices, but purely in simulation. Do you see any problem with this request?"
Trowa relaxed a little in his seat and thought about Tanaka-Hei. "He's a good soldier. I've seen him have more confidence in himself since he first joined up. On the contrary, I think we could both benefit from it. Recently lost his father didn't he?"
"He mentioned it a while the crew was on leave and the ship was being repaired.
That may be a contributing factor in his desire to do more. Yes, I do agree that working together you will both benefit. After all while teaching him, you will find your own skills will become better. And you never know, he might think of something in a combat situation that you did not."
"That I have no doubt. I look forward to it."
"Did you arrive in time for my mission briefing?" she inquired.
"Aye, Ma'am. We're going to be helping Oinari-Hei's friend... What is it called again?"
"HER name is Kata'nova, she is a Shukaren Daur of the Neshaten people. From what we have ascertained, she is a younger member of their society. What you would call a teenager." Katae replied.
"Ah, right. No disrespect intended. We're helping Kata'nova find her people and doing exploring while we are at it. Which, I won't lie, will be nice not to have to an attack NMX base again."
"Yes, it will be good, but we could be going into uncharted space, with unknown dangers. Or passing through areas in our sector without law, like the former UOC. So we need to be prepared for just about anything.
"So business as usual then?"
You still have your computer interface to help you I presume. Tanaka-Hei recently upgraded to the Minkan body so that he could make use of the SPINE interface. Might be interesting to have you two run combat against each other in simulation." Katae said with a smile
"Aye, Ma'am. If fact I've just installed some new hardware that will increase my performance." Trowa smiled back. "Now that would be interesting. Out of curiosity, who would your money be on?"
"For the moment, that would be you. Experience almost always wins."
"Just happy to know that you still have confidence in me, Ma'am."
"I will continue to have confidence in your ability until such time as you give me reason not to. You will want to get some data from Eternity. Since we are going out for a while, we are running with extra equipment. We will have a Tenba-Class Transporter attached to our starboard airlock. I am sure the extra mass is going to cause a shift in our center of gravity."
"Eternity, would you kindly send me the data on that? Is there anything else I should be aware of Ma'am?"
"I think we are done for the moment. I will see you on the bridge, also if you wish to do any shopping I would suggest you make it quick. We could be gone for a while, so any entertainment items you might want.. well I think you get the idea." she said with a grin.
Trowa stood and bowed. "Thank you Ma'am. I will be ready."
"Then you are dismissed Trowa-San, see about getting some breakfast."
"Aye, aye Taisa." Trowa said as he headed for the door.
OFF